Published 4:00 am, Friday, July 8, 2005

Photo: PAUL SAKUMA

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David Hu grimaces after he was rescued under the rubble of his home in Los Altos, Calif., Thursday, July 7, 2005 after a , authorities said. Two children, ages 4 and 6, were treated for minor injures after the blast at the two-story home that destoyed most of the house. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) less

David Hu grimaces after he was rescued under the rubble of his home in Los Altos, Calif., Thursday, July 7, 2005 after a , authorities said. Two children, ages 4 and 6, were treated for minor injures after the ... more

Photo: PAUL SAKUMA

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Rescue workers look over the rubble of the home of David Hu in Los Altos, Calif., Thursday, July 7, 2005 after a , authorities said. Two children, ages 4 and 6, were treated for minor injures after the blast at the two-story home that destoyed most of the house. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) less

Rescue workers look over the rubble of the home of David Hu in Los Altos, Calif., Thursday, July 7, 2005 after a , authorities said. Two children, ages 4 and 6, were treated for minor injures after the blast at ... more

An explosion apparently caused by natural gas wiped out a home near Los Altos early Thursday, sending a man and his two children to hospitals with minor injuries.

"It sounded like a sonic boom," said Susan Hagerty, who lives next door to the home at 1480 Frontero Ave., where the blast occurred at about 8:15 a.m. "Things just went flying. I grabbed the phone and ran outside and called 911."

David Hu, 45, was trapped in the rubble for about 3 1/2 hours, his legs pinned by what was left of the home's A-frame roof, said Tom Walsh, senior deputy fire marshal with the Santa Clara County Fire Department. Because Hu was conscious, and his vital signs were good, firefighters did not rush to pull him out -- they shored up the rubble around him first to reduce the risk of its collapsing on him.

With the help of neighbors, Hu's 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son escaped quickly and safely, Walsh said. They were taken to El Camino Hospital in Mountain View with minor injuries and released Thursday afternoon. His wife apparently was out of town visiting relatives, Walsh said.

When Hu was pulled out, about a dozen paramedics and firefighters surrounded him to help, checking his vital signs, hooking up an IV and applying a neck brace, strictly as a precaution. Walsh said, though, that Hu appeared to have only an ankle injury, cuts and bruises.

Hu was taken to Stanford Hospital, where he was in fair condition Thursday afternoon.

The force of the blast destroyed the home, leaving only the garage and small portions of the rest of its frame standing, and sent debris more than 30 feet into the air. Some of it, including a magazine, several pieces of wood and a toy cash register, came to rest high in a tree in Hu's front yard.

Firefighters blocked off several hundred feet along Frontero for several hours as the rescue took place. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off gas to a couple of neighboring homes, said spokesman Jeff Smith.

Smith said the cause of the blast, or whether any gas leak came from inside or outside the house, might not be known for several days.

"Natural gas can be extremely deadly," Smith said. "It doesn't take much of an ignition source."

Hagerty said her home appeared to be undamaged, although several items fell off shelves from the force of the blast.

Near the front of Hu's home was a real estate sign and flyers for the neighboring home at 1482 Frontero, which is being offered for sale with an asking price of $1,988,000. Coldwell Banker real estate agent Judy Ellingsen said the homeowner was checking about damage to that property, but Walsh said no neighboring homes had suffered any obvious, significant harm.

The noise certainly rocked the neighborhood, which consists of many large homes in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County just south of Foothill Expressway. Mark Mathisen, who lives about 1,000 feet away on Country Club Drive, walked over to check out what happened.

"I felt the blast," he said. "It was a pretty big blast."

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